The country quinta

As you know, my homeroom/flex/advisory class this year is all 19, 10th grade girls, and has become the best 30 minutes of my day. The easy part was to instill the idea that we are family, they have been in school together since pre-Kinder, but it has become more than that. The high school administration looks to us to be leaders in the school and we have stepped up to the challenge. After a tough first four months of working our butts off every day in flex, we decided that a celebration was in order! 

I was thinking, let's take an afternoon and leave school and go eat somewhere as a group. Well that idea turned into - let's take the whole day off and go to one of the girls' quintas. 

What's a quinta, you ask? Well I had that same question and it was explained to me that it is just an extra house that the families go to on the weekends to get out of the city. Santa Cruz is a crowded, dirty city and in just a short 20 min ride you can be "in the country". The State of Santa Cruz is huge and consists of lowlands, farms, jungles, very tropical. So the suggestion came up that we should leave the whole day and head out to the quinta and relax. What should we do there? Well, there's a pool in the yard, karaoke, and a big BBQ. Ok, sounds good.

Now, in my head I see this sort of Florida style house with a quaint yard, pool and grill... what I experienced was totally different!

We pile in a bus and head out of the city, past the swirling dirt, discarded trash littering the streets, smells of filth, and just past the airport, north of town we are in the "country". The girls have brought their bose speakers again and are singing at the top of their lungs. I've let them organize the day and only brought one activity with me - a thank you card activity. The other 8 hours was planned by the kids.

We drive and drive and drive for 45 minutes and finally come to a turn off down a dirt road surrounded by sugar cane. I look over into the field and an ostrich runs by. Palm trees line the drive and the dusty fields say that the rainy season hasn't started yet.

We pull up and here's what's in store for me for the day...

I know, seriously.

A Very Special Moment

A month or so ago my school decided that a positive way to increase school spirit would be to have not only student of the month awards, but staff of the month. The assistant principal sent out a form and teachers got to nominate a student. As far as the teacher award, the students met in their homeroom classes and voted. Since that day a few weeks ago, I haven't heard anything. Of course I picked one of my favorites (of course I have favorites, I am human) and nominated her for the award. After that there wasn't much talk about it... until today.

Today was the awards assembly and the day that the AP announced the winners of the awards. The student award went first and it was really touchy feely and you could see the school spirit creeping higher. Well, second was the teacher announcement. On a big screen they projected a power point that started listing characteristics of the person and I have to admit now that I can't really remember them all... but I had a feeling...

Then, it was announced, I was chosen for the Staff Award. I was smiling inside and out and bowed my head and walked to the front of the gym. The entire high school student body and staff were there looking down on me and I started to shake. I am a confident speaker, I can talk in front of anyone, but today I got nervous. I was shaking, and started to tear up as my assistant principal, principal and director all shook my hand and in pure Santa Cruz fashion kissed me on the cheek. Whew, that was nice, but wait, I have to stay in the front? Yup, because down comes three of my students armed with little pieces of paper that they have written a speech about me on! Oh, here comes more tears... it was sooooooo sweet. They grabbed the microphone and started describing why I was chosen. I kind of blacked out during the whole thing, but the one characteristic I remember quite clearly is that one thing they like about me is that I've taught them not to take life too seriously! Really? I did that? Wow. You never know the impact you have on others... One thing I LOVE about being a teacher is that I often DO get to hear the impact I've had, even if it's years later. I am proud to be a teacher. I am proud to work with the young people of the world.

This was a very special moment indeed.

All Saint's Day

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I suppose since I'm always coming out of my candy coma, or sleeping late from a party I've never really thought about All Saint's Day. This year our school actually gave us the day off, so after going to school on Monday, we had Tuesday off. You've heard me complain that there is not much to do here normally, so having a holiday off was a scary thought.

I decided that since NOTHING would be open today, I would head to a cemetery that I haven't visited yet. The weather today was gorgeous. The smoke has cleared up (hopefully for good) and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky. Of course the city center was empty, but the cemetery was packed. Packed with families gathering to visit with their loved ones. They arrive with gifts of flowers, food, favorite items, and place the items on alters in or around the tombs. There are no grassy grave areas here, just cement walls of tombs, or huge mausoleums of rich families. I love the peacefulness even a packed cemetery brings. I find it fascinating to observe how people deal with death and burials. In another life I would like to study ancient burial rituals. I love the tradition of going together with your extended family to visit relatives.

What captured my attention today were the huge, beautiful trees in a cement filled cemetery.